And the winner is Ben Altimirano Sports Complex at 3.9 million gallons for the month of August at a cost of $15,769.00 for 4 baseball fields and 2 soccer fields. In an agreement between the Town of Silver City, owner of the complex, and Silver Consolidated School District the School District maintains and controls the Complex and the Town/Taxpayer pays the water bill. Above, a ball field watered during a down pour.

As the Town takes up the issue of water conservation as recommended by the Mayor's Climate Committee and not exactly knowing what to do the Town began by analyzing the biggest water users. See below for their top 10 as printed out from their data base after my amended list of the top ten.

By way of comparison to other big water users:1a - The 476 water users of the Arenas Valley Water Association used 4.078 million gallons in August. An average of 8.5 thousand gallons per household. About average if you don't have a lawn. Although #1 in total gallons used it is only 178,000 gallons more than the above Sports Complex. 1b - The Pinos Altos Water Associations 136 households used 803 thousand gallons in August (a steady decrease over the summer from 1.1 million gallons in May) for an average of 5,944 gallons per household and down from 8,000 per household in May.

2. The 10 water meters at WNMU registered a total August use of 5.09 million gallons with their dorms, lawns, sports fields and pool. Some big users on campus are 1.3 million gallons for the Police Academy and the Fine Arts Building at 1.2 million (down from Julys 1.8 million gallons). Obviously the fine arts building doesn't have a lawn but may water the lawn across the street. The Police academy waters the Old James Stadium but not the New Stadium which used 334,000 gallons in August with a steady decrease over the summer from a high of 1.2 million gallons in May. There are 5 individual WNMU meters that are in the top 10 water users.

3. Parks, excluding the swimming pool: although there are 12 Parks that have a water meter only 10 show a water use for a total June (highest month) use of 852,000 gallons with Gough Park the highest with 26,000 Gallons or about 3 average households use per month.

4. Swimming Pools, The Towns outdoor swimming pool used a modest 9,000 gallons in August, down from a high of 30,000 in June and 11,000 in July.

The WNMU indoor pool, #10 in the un-amended top 10, used a total of 2.4 million gallons for May - July for an average of 800,000 gallons per month. For August, when it was shut down do to a leak the usage went down to 310,000 gallons, dropping it from the top 10 at least for now.

5. LDS Mormon Church on Swan St moves into the top 10 with an August use of 747,000 gallons. See: Amended Top 10 list below for May-July usage.

6. Scott Park, 3 baseball fields: Although included in the Parks Total these Ball parks are not watered in the winter and had no water in August. Two fields are now neglected and one is mowed and still alive and used. Although they were never in the top water users the separate issue with watering these fields is that it allegedly raised the ground water level under the old landfill next door and created potential pollution problems into the ground water. May- 21,000; June- 26,000; July- 11,000; August- 0.

7. The Golf Course: The biggest user of all receives their water from the Sewer Treatment Plant as reclaimed/cleaned waste water.

8. In an Amended 10 List I removed the Water Associations from the list since individual users are at or below the average per household use. And, as above I removed WNMU Pool. This moved LDS Church, Grant County Courthouse Lawn and Gough Park into the top 10.

Amended Top 10 Water Users for the months of May; June; July; 3 month Total; (August) 2011 (billed Gallons) Without Water Associations Included. As a comparison, below this is the original top ten as printed out from the Town Database.

8. LDS Church at 3755 N Swan: May- 448,000; June- 822,000; July- 789,000; Total- 2,059,000; -(August- 747,000 ) Note: compare this 2.05 million with the 1.99 Million for the Rosedale Mutual Water Association for the same 3 month May - July.

10. 1100 N. Kentucky St May - 860,000; June- 833,000; July- 784,000; Total- 2,477,000 (WNMU Swimming Pool) Note: in August the Pool usage went down to 310,000 Gallons when a leak was discovered and it was shut down.

These numbers were culled from a review of the top 96 water users as recorded in the Town Records. Help in my attempt to determine what meters did what was supplied by Chris McNeil, Meter Service Foreman and 11 years with the water department.

It is truly scary to see fields, etc., being watered during a down pour.I'd like to see other water-offenders given some sort of ticket or citation; there are several in my neighborhoodwho over water to the extent that there are little streams flowing down the edge of the street, usually in the hottestpart of the afternoon - the most wasteful time to water even conservatively.Elizabeth

how would the town react to water restrictions? i think it's a good idea but who would enforce it?

how about encouraging native plants and xeriscaping (not just putting a bunch of rocks in your yard) and water harvesting techniques. not just harvesting off the roof but capturing water on your property. brad lancaster says to "turn your yard into a sponge". that should be a goal for all of us. it might help balance out the 3.9 gallons a month at the ball field...YIKES!

I believe it has been suggested that the watering timers be set to water at night when there is less evaporation. Hasn't happened at the Court House - don't know about the other places. Nor do I know how this suggestion plays into general water usage and when the demand is highest.

a possible solution to water wasting is progressive pricing, to wit: the custoners who use the least water would be charged x per gallon, those who use more than a certain amount would pay 1.2 x and on up the use ladder, with the water hogs paying 2,4,6 x . also make the water service fee (the monthly minimum that hits the small user hardest ) progressive as well.

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